Personnel:

Bobby Jaspar (cl, ts), Jean Bourguignon, Herman Sandy, Armand Bilak (tp), Jacques Pelzer (as), Jean-Marie Vandresse, Jean Leclère, Francy Boland, Henri Renaud (p), Sadi (vib, vcl), Pierre Robert, René Thomas (g), Charles Libon, Vic Geets, Georges Leclercq, Pierre Michelot (b), André Putsage, Geo Steene, Pierre Lemarchand (d)

Reference: FSRCD 977

This CD includes the early steps of Bobby Jaspar as a jazz musician, when he started on clarinet and then tenor saxophone, as he formed the young award-winning Belgian band they called “Bob Shots” —the first in Europe to play “be-bop” back in 1947 under the guidance of Jaspar's influence, Don Byas. One year later he met Lucky Thompson onstage in an enriching experience, and he became his new inspiration. These two encounters helped Bobby grow musically in a way that would make him a success everywhere, a blend of styles that was a compromise between the turbulence of Thompson, Lester Young, Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, etc., and the rhapsodic style of Byas and Hawkins.

Already as a professional in Paris in 1950, he adopted the new “cool” sound, influenced at the beginning by Warne Marsh and then later by his new aesthetic referent Stan Getz. “A pure sonority, like that of Getz, is preferable to an abortive imitation of the black sound,” Jaspar said. Jazz-Hot’s Lucien Malson said of Jaspar that he was “one of the few tenors in Europe who could compare to any of the white American tenor saxophonists and come out on top.”

Although the sound quality of these recordings is generally acceptable, it has issues at times and we haven’t been able to clean the original source as well as we would have liked. That said, they are still an exceptional document that not only puts in value the unforgettable Bobby Jaspar, but also reminds us of the origins of the best jazz generation to emerge from Belgium.

Tracklist

01. Oop Bop Sh’ Bam (Dizzy Gillespie) 2:29

02. Moonlight in Vermont (Blackburn-Suessdorf) 2:52

03. Anthropology (Charlie Parker) 5:05

04. Thelonious (Thelonious Monk) 1:32

05. Our Delight (Tadd Dameron) 2:46

06. Embraceable You (G. & I. Gershwin) 1:53

07. Wee-Dot (Johnson-Parker) 2:35

08. I Can’t Get Started (Duke-Gershwin) 2:37

09. When I Grow Too Old to Dream (Romberg-Hammerstein II) 2:34

10. Relaxin’ at Camarillo (Charlie Parker) 2:55

11. Jack the Hipster (Jack Sels) 2:34

12. That’s My Desire (Kresa-Loveday) 2:43

13. Boppin’ at the Doge (Francis Coppieters) 2:32

14. Embraceable You (G. & I. Gershwin) 1:56

15. Boppin’ for Haig (Bobby Jaspar) 2:39

16. Pastel Blue (Shavers-Shaw, arr. P.Robert) 2:50

17. Tenderly (Gross-Lawrence) 2:48

18. If I Had You (King-Shapiro) 2:16

19. Bobby’s Beep (Bobby Jaspar) 2:50

20. How About (Bobby Jaspar) 3:01

21. Don’t Be That Way (Goodman-Sampson-Parish) 3:17 *

22. I’ve Found a New Baby (Williams-Johnson) 2:10 *

23. Ain’t Misbehavin (Waller-Brooks) 3:06 *

24. Things Ain’t What They Used to Be (Ellington-Mercer) 3:00 *

25. Body and Soul (Green-Heyman-Sour-Eyton) 3:38 *

Total time: 70:12 min.

(*) Bonus Tracks

Sources:

Tracks #1 & 2: 78 rpm Olympia 5302

Track #3: Private tape

Tracks #4-10: Private paper tape

Tracks #11 & 12: 78 rpm Pacific 2323

Tracks #13 & 14: 78 rpm Pacific 2325

Tracks #15 & 16: 78 rpm Pacific 2326

Track #17: 78 rpm Saturne 3005

Track #18: 78 rpm Saturne 3006

Tracks #19 & 20: 78 rpm Vogue 5097

Tracks #21 & 22: 78 rpm Continental Acetate

Tracks #23 & 24: 78 rpm Liège Experimental Acetate

Track #25: Private paper tape

Personnel:

Tracks #1-2: THE BOB SHOTS

Jean Bourguignon, trumpet; Bobby Jaspar, clarinet & tenor sax; Jacques Pelzer, alto sax; Jean-Marie Vandresse, piano; Pierre Robert, guitar; Charles Libon, bass; André Putsage, drums.

Recorded in Brussels, February 10, 1947

Track #3: JEAN LECLÈRE / BOB SHOTS ORCHESTRA

Herman Sandy, trumpet; Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax; Jacques Pelzer, alto sax; Jean Leclère, piano; Sadi, vibes; Pierre Robert, guitar; Vic Geets, bass; Geo Steene, drums.

Recorded at the Festival de Jazz de Nice, February 1948

Tracks #4-10: THE BOB SHOTS

Jean Bourguignon, trumpet; Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax; Jacques Pelzer, alto sax; Jean-Marie Vandresse, piano; Pierre Robert, guitar, vocals (#4); Georges Leclercq, bass; André Putsage, drums.

Recorded in Liège, July 1948

Tracks #11-16: THE BOB SHOTS

Jean Bourguignon, trumpet; Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax; Jacques Pelzer, alto sax; Pierre Robert, guitar; Francy Boland, piano; Sadi, vibes, vocals (#12 & 14); Georges Leclercq, bass; John Ward, drums.

Recorded in Paris, May 16-17, 1949

Tracks #17-20: BOBBY JASPAR QUARTET

Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax; Henri Renaud, piano; Pierre Michelot, bass; Pierre Lemarchand, drums.

Recorded in Paris, May 5 and November 1951

Tracks #21-22: ORCHESTRE DU COSMOPOLITE

Bobby Jaspar, clarinet; Vicky Thunus, piano (#21); Oscar Arvedson, guitar (#21); Paul Dubois, bass, piano (22); JeanPierre Ackermans, drums.

Recorded in Brussels, Hôtel Cosmopolite, January 1945 (Acetate Continental)

Tracks #23-24: THE BOB SHOTS

Armand Bilak, trumpet; Bobby Jaspar, clarinet & tenor sax; Jacques Pelzer, alto sax; Sadi, piano & vocals (#23); Pierre Robert, guitar; Charles Libon, bass; André Putsage, drums.

Recorded in the Liège Expérimental Studio, Liège 1946

Track #25: BOBBY JASPAR QUARTET

Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax; René Thomas, guitar; Sadi, vibes; Georges Leclercq, bass.

Recorded in Liège 1948

Special thanks to Jean-Pol Schroeder and the Maison du Jazz de Liège for their help in making this project possible.

Remastered by Marc Doutrepont

Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol

Mono · 24-Bit Digitally Remastered